Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Yesterday, it rained off and on during the afternoon... As you know (from previous blogs), I always have alot of birds at all of my feeders most all of the time. BUT--they seem to REALLY be present when it is raining --or has rained. I sat on my recliner (my throne) and watched them for awhile ---while enjoying hearing the rain hit the roof and the deck. I enjoy rain--especially on Summer days when it cools things off , and on days like yesterday when we NEEDED the rain!

While sitting and watching the birds, I decided to take a few pictures to share. Above is a sweet picture of a little Tufted Titmouse. This may be a juvenile Tufted since we have alot of them around now, in addition to two little birds which I didn't get photos of yesterday (the Carolina Chickadee and the White-Breasted Nuthatch). Those three different birds flit in and out of the feeders all day long --even when it's not raining. More pictures are below.

We also have lots of House Finches (the one above is either a juvenile or a female) around now also.

Besides the House Finches, the Goldfinches come to the feeders almost constantly. I love the male Goldfinches in their bright yellow color.

Bluejays love the suet feeders. They usually announce themselves when they come. Sorry, but it's not a great picture-- since he had his bite and was flying away when I snapped it. Oh Well!!!!

Between showers, the male Cardinal decided to take a bath... I was surprised since I figured that he had gotten wet enough after all of the rain.

The Downy Woodpeckers (above) and the Red-bellied Woodpeckers take turns at one of the suet feeders. There was also a baby Downy at the suet feeder today but I didn't get a picture.

Do you remember my blog post talking about Pete and Petunia, my two Red-bellied Woodpeckers that were in our yard all winter???? First, there was Pete... I wasn't sure he had a mate... Later though, I met Petunia, and was so happy that Pete did indeed have a 'friend'... Pete and Petunia are both still with us (Petunia is the one pictured above) ---but now there is a little one (or maybe more than one)!!! See the next photo.

Meet PAT.... I had to name him/her Pat since I'm not sure whether it's a he or a she right now. For those who do not know Red-bellied Woodpeckers, the little ones don't have red on the top of their heads. An adult female has red on the front and on the back--but white in between. An Adult male has a red stripe all the way from the top of his head down to his back.

The Brown Thrashers still come to our suet feeders alot--off and on all day long. This is one of the little ones which were born about a month ago. Remember the nest in our Jasmine Bush in our front yard???? It's nice that the Thrashers are all still around!

Another picture of one of the baby Brown Thrashers. He sat on the top of the suet feeder for the longest time--just resting I guess. OR---maybe he was protecting the feeder so that other birds would stay away!!! ha